Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 73

Potato flower

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Day 72

Megan and cherry tomatoes

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day 71

Well, another morning without a camera.  Shucks.  Here is a picture from last Wednesday that is pretty awesome.

Today was exciting because we picked the first of the summer squash.  There were two bountiful bushels of both yellow and green.  Also we picked a half bushel of purple, green, and yellow beans, greens, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and kale. 








 Curiously enough, I took a similar picture three years ago.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

Day 68

Uh oh!  I woke up this morning and my camera ceased to be functioning.  Just last night I was telling someone how awesome that camera is- maybe I should have knocked on some wood!  Nonetheless, even without the pictures to prove it, we had a great harvest this morning.  There were lots of cucumbers, three colors of beans, wonderful swiss chard, and lots of kale.  I am hoping the dining hall will make some kale chips with the kale, but I will have to remember how to do it first.  Yum!

The sunflowers are blooming!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Day 64

A wonderful harvest this morning!  Greens and beans and cucumbers and peppers, what more could you ask for???

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Day 63

Swiss Chard

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day 61



It was a busy day in the garden this morning.  At good number of people showed up for this morning's garden party, and it was a trick keeping everyone busy.  Things that usually take me an hour alone or with someone else get done soooo fast when their are five pairs of hands working together.  Among the things we accomplished this morning are:

1) Transplanting the last tomatoes
2) Planting asparagus roots
3) Major harvesting action- salad greens, turnips, green onions, radishes, green beans, cucumbers
4) Helping train the pole beans
5) Having fun!

Thanks so much for the help everyone!!!  I couldn't do it without you

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Day 60

Holy smokes, 60 days of gardening at the Biostation!  Am I a lucky man or what?!  The garden is thriving and everything looks so beautiful.  Today I spent some time with Mike weeding and mowing down the grass between beds.  Everything is lush and green thanks to the many diligent volunteers who are up in the garden every day watering.  The plants (and I) thank you!  A greater variety of things are coming ripe in the garden now, and Mike and I shared the first cucumber and green beans as a garden snack.  Doesn't get much better than this.  Tomorrow morning we will have a work party at 9am to harvest, weed, and even plant (some tomatoes from the greenhouse).  Only one more month of classes to go, but the garden will be there the whole time providing for us all. 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day 58

Another grand harvest this morning.  The highlights today were the many beautiful hot peppers Jen picked from both the greenhouse and from in the garden.  The varieties are hungarian hot-wax and red rocket, and they will hopefully make it into the chili we are eating tomorrow for lunch.  We also cut many greens, more radishes, and some very wonderful swiss chard.  Tasty tasty tasty!!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Day 56

Garden party at 6am???  Could be the earliest party in Biostation history, or at least so says Knute at dinner tonight.  It was indeed a party of four with myself, Jen, Lisa, and Jill.  We harvested so much, including two bushels of greens, boatloads of radishes, green onions, turnips, and beets.  After harvest, we brought all the produce down to the dining hall to display while people were coming in to breakfast.  The effect was awesome, and the garden was publicly applauded by Knute (the director of the Biostation) at dinner.  Here is the spread:



There were some of the first cherry tomatoes ripe in the garden in the morning, but those never made it to the dining hall as they were reserved for party-goers along with a little basil to make scrumptious sandwiches!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 55



This past weekend I spent at the music festival Blissfest, so I was not around to play in the garden.  I did get to show the garden off to many of my good friends on Sunday, and was very excited to see their reactions.  Unfortunately some things in the greenhouse did not fare well without water and were pretty zapped.  But for everything else things grew to epic proportions and it was time this morning for a large harvest.


Bright and early I went up to the garden with Jill, and we harvested an enormous bounty.  Beets, turnips, lots of radishes, and tons of greens all went into baskets, were displayed in front of the dining hall during breakfast, and then made it into the kitchen.  This evening dinner featured greens exclusively from the garden (including swiss chard harvested last week) as well as radishes and kohlrabi.  It was sooooo yummy and there was even enough to restock the greens once they were all gone. And the best part is that there is plenty more ready to harvest, so tomorrow morning we are going to have a little harvest party at 6AM! 

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Day 51

Today we had a whirlwind tutorial on watering in the garden.  I have been recruiting help with things like watering and composting, and I wanted to show people what can be done when they are helping out.  Unfortunately we were a little stressed for time, as the all-camp photo and volleyball games were happening shortly after the tutorial.  Hooray water!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Day 50

Another great harvest this morning.  Some of the swiss chard needed thinning, and between four rows I cut just under a bushel that will hopefully go into some kind of soup later this week.  I also harvested the first peppers from the greenhouse as well as a whole bunch of radishes.  Bon appetite!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Day 49

A great harvest this morning!  Woke up to early morning wet and went to the garden alone for some meditative time.  I harvested a bushel of beet greens and spinach which made for a very hardy lunch salad.  With the combination of rain and heat, things have been growing like crazy, though some of the cool season crops like spinach are starting to bolt.  That's all for now!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Day 47

Happy 4th of July!!!  Today we had an excellent work party in the garden.  Starting at 9am people came up to the garden to help plant tomatoes and onions, weed, thin, and harvest!  With advertising by word of mouth and through the message board, about eight or nine people showed up enthusiastically.  We accomplished lots of things I have been meaning to do but lacking the time for, and the garden is happy for all the help.  There are now more cherry tomatoes in the ground, more green onions, thinned swiss chard and beets and much more!  Thanks so much for the help everyone! 

Best of all, we were able to harvest a bounty that we will likely eat tomorrow night for dinner.  There was almost a bushel and a half of greens, the first few beets, radishes, the last of the kohlrabi, and the first of the green onions.  Delicious!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Day 45

After a busy week with my research job, today I was finally able to spend some time with the garden.  After doing a little watering and weeding, Jill and I drove to Cheboygan to pick up some supplies.  We bought bushel baskets for harvesting, in addition to a whole slurry of seeds, onion sets, and asparagus roots to plant.  My plan is to try growing some sprouts this summer, so we picked up some different seeds in bulk for that end.  The types of seeds I will be trying are radish, sunflower, bean, and pea.  I will give an update on the sprout progress as I figure things out.